Review: The Witchfinder's Sister

{image via Goodreads}

Normally, I wouldn't be reading a witch-centered tale at this point in the year; I prefer to read this type of story in the fall, when the crunching leaves and cool wind outside put me in the mood. I couldn't wait, however, to get my hands on this new release from a freshman author, if only to see if I should recommend it for this year's great October reads list. The Witchfinder's Sister is a tale of witch-hunting in 17th century England, a time in which the slightest betrayal of propriety could mark a woman as under the influence of the devil.

The story follows Alice Hopkins, a woman who is forced to move from London back to her hometown of Manningtree after the death of her husband. Alice arrives, hoping that her fractured relationship with her brother can be healed as she will be forced to rely on his hospitality for the foreseeable future. Matthew accepts Alice into his home but he has undergone a change since the siblings had last seen each other. He has grown into a serious man, extremely private and outwardly judgmental of those who do not follow the Bible's teachings. Alice soon realizes that Matthew is doing more than just judging others -- he is taking careful notes, preparing himself for a venerable witch-hunt. 

For a debut novel, this was very well written. The details were obviously well-researched, and I had no trouble putting myself into the setting of this book. For me, it's weakness was in the plot. I felt that it was awfully drawn out, and I found my interest waning until I hit the 70% mark -- that's when I started to feel invested in the story. The pace makes sense considering the setting -- there wasn't much sudden action back in the 1640's -- but some of the most interesting history behind the book didn't come in until that last 30%, and I found myself wishing that our protagonist could have spent less time pacing her room and more time in the action. My second qualm was in the character of Alice, as she was always deferential and even when she tried to stand up to the men in her life, she never actually followed through. Historically, her behavior makes sense, as she wouldn't have had many options when it came to supporting herself, but her character felt weak to me and I found myself disappointed in her tendency towards hiding away rather than standing up for herself and others. 

I found the history behind the story really interesting -- Matthew Hopkins was a real figure in history, a man responsible for the death of over a hundred women whom he accused and persecuted for witchcraft. This all happened before the infamous trials in Salem and yet it's not nearly as well known. I live next to Salem (and teach there, too) and though I had heard of the trials in England I had no knowledge of the scope of Hopkin's impact. For those interested in this period of history, I would recommend this story even with my dislike for its protagonist. To me, this feels like a book that wasn't quite right for me as a reader but has the potential to be a favorite for others.

This title will be released on April 25, 2017.

Bottom-Line Rating: 3/5

Title: The Witchfinder's Sister

Author: Beth Underdown

Publisher: Ballatine Books

Price: Pre-order for $19.04 on Amazon

ISBN: 0399179143

Format: E-book

Source: Net Galley

Note: Top Shelf Text was provided with a copy of this text by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

Review: The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes #2)

{Goodreads}

I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes -- give me everything from the original stories, to TV reincarnations, to book spin-offs and I'm more than happy to indulge. I read the first book in this series A Study in Charlotte, back in January and though I'm not usually a YA reader, I thought it was a pretty good start to a new series and certainly a fresh take on two of my favorite characters in literature. (Psst - If you think you might be interested in reading, stop here and go back for the first. This is one series you definitely need to read in chronological order.)

In The Last of August, we meet up with Charlotte and Jamie in London, where they are spending time with both of their respective families during the winter holidays. It becomes immediately clear that something is off -- something is not quite right in the relationship between our two main characters. That tension remains throughout most of the book, as the two battle with themselves and each other over what their relationship should look like going forward.

While trying to work out their angst, the two are also on a new case, as Charlotte's beloved uncle has gone missing, and they're pretty sure his disappearance was at the hands of the Moriarty family. I don't want to say much more here about the plot -- spoilers are not so fun in mysteries, you know -- but I can speak more to the experience of reading it. After reading the final page, I will say this: the last 30 pages or so were intense and somewhat confusing and for me that made it worth pushing through to the end. Overall, this book just did not captivate me as much as the first. I think that my waning interest may be due to the greater focus on the relationship between Watson and Holmes. I am much more interested in the mystery aspect than in the lives of the characters themselves, and I have to say that I felt like the mystery was hastily thrown together, and when it came to the big reveal I felt confused. In the end, I didn't appreciate how "genius" the plot was supposed to be, so I think when it comes to this series, the first was worth the read and the second was more take-it-or-leave-it. 

Bottom-Line Rating: 3/5

Title: The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes #2)

Author: Brittany Cavallaro

Publisher: Katherine Tegen, 2017

Price: $11 on Amazon

ISBN: 0062398946

Format: Hardcover

Source: Personal Library

Review: A Portrait of Emily Price

{on Goodreads}

First things first -- that cover. If that doesn't scream Tuscan countryside, then I don't know what does. As happens, I was first drawn to this book by the gorgeous cover. I've read one of Katherine Reay's novels before, The Brontë Plot, and really enjoyed it so I had high hopes for this one. All of her previous novels have connections to classic literature -- I can never resist a good novel with allusions to other famous works. 

In A Portrait of Emily Price, our protagonist is a art restorer. Emily meets Ben, a handsome Italian man who easily captures Emily's heart, and in the span of a few weeks he proposes, they marry, and Ben whisks Emily off to Tuscany. This was where I hit my first snag with the novel. It's not that Ben was that classic Italian heartthrob, or that Emily found herself quickly falling for him, but their extremely quick romance felt utterly shallow to me. In context, Reay managed to explain why it felt necessary (to the characters, that is) but I still felt like rolling my eyes at their too-quick courtship. Emily and Ben arrive in Tuscany, where Ben's rather intimidating mother is (not surprisingly) unimpressed with his new American wife. Ben's father, however, is kind and welcoming. As Emily tries to navigate her new family and her new country, she turns to creating art. Her art plays a big role in unveiling and helping to heal the family's longstanding secret. 

I put down the book about halfway through -- after Ben and Emily arrive in Tuscany, but picked it back up again a month later because I wanted to see it through to the end. I certainly felt more pull from the second half of the book, when the focus is on the family's secrets and how their relationships change as Ben's father grows close to death. I just couldn't bring myself to believe in the "true love" between Emily and Ben. That can be a hangup that I have when reading contemporary fiction, but if it's not something that phases you, I'd recommend this book for the scenery, art, and the descriptions of food.

Bottom Line Rating: 3/5

Title: A Portrait of Emily Price

Author: Katherine Reay

Publisher: Thomas Nelson 2016

Price: $12 on Amazon

ISBN: 0718077911

Format: E-book

Source: Net Galley

Note: Top Shelf Text was provided with a copy of this text from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

Children's Review: Archie Greene and the Magician's Secret

{on Goodreads}

Archie Greene is just an ordinary boy who lives with his grandmother, until his twelfth birthday, when a mysterious package is delivered to him. Inside the package is a book, and like most things in Archie's life, this book is old. Archie (who does not care for most things that are old) is intrigued by the book, and soon finds himself in an entirely different world and with a very big destiny to fulfill. When the book arrives on Archie's doorstep, his grandmother is forced to reveal the secrets that she had been keeping for his entire life: that he belongs to a well-established family of Flame Keepers, a group of trusted individuals whose job is to protect ancient magical books from forces of dark magic. That is where this book first shines: Everest's world-building is really unique and has relatively good execution, though I felt that the book could have been fleshed out in at least one hundred more pages, to allow the elements of this magical world to unfold more naturally. Archie soon moves in with his eccentric aunt, uncle, and two cousins, who introduce him to this strange new world. His extended family make up my favorite characters in this story: an aunt who paints the entire house shades of purple and bakes cakes with sardines as her secret ingredient, an uncle who always greets others with "What-ho!", and two cousins that are intelligent, fearless, and unfailingly loyal to Archie throughout the trials of the book. As Archie settles into his new role of apprentice, things start to happen at the Museum of Magical Miscellany, the place where all of the magical texts are kept safely tucked away. As secrets unfold, Archie comes to find that he plays a much large role in the future of the museum-- and of magic. Though I did enjoy the story (and managed to finish it in one sitting), I found myself a bit unimpressed by the level of writing. This book is intended for an 8-12 year-old audience and readers of that age can handle very complex plots and pick up a lot more subtle hints than you might guess. Everest failed in his execution here because he didn't seem to trust his readers to catch on to the big secrets and clues within the plot: it felt as though things were being dumbed-down or blatantly said when they were already obvious to the reader. This disappointed me because many of these obvious observations came from Archie himself, and I felt that his character profile was considerably weakened because of it. In addition to that, there was a lot of straight info-dumping at the beginning of the book. Here was a incredibly intriguing imaginary world, and it was all being explained too quickly for the reader to appreciate. The plot could have been made a bit more complex and secondary characters outside of Archie's family more fleshed out within the span of (at least) one hundred more pages, then this could have become one of my favorite fantasy series for this age group. On the author blurb, Everest mentions that he found writing a children's book to be difficult and that this one "almost killed" him, and I think that struggle is evident in the way that the book fell a little flat. However, despite all of that I will continue to follow the series (no word yet on the next one), as I am always keeping an eye out for books with male protagonists for my classroom library. I feel that I could recommend this to my students as a rather easy read with the hope that the premise will come through more naturally in the next installment. 

Bottom Line Rating: 3/5

Recommended for readers age 8-12 (Grade 3-7)

Title: Archie Greene and the Magician's Secret'

Author: D. D. Everest

Publisher: Harper Collins 2014

Price: $11.39 from Amazon

ISBN: 0062312111

Format: Hardcover

Source: Public Library